Split level patio development in East Grinstead, West Sussex

The clients here asked me to look at their garden because they wanted a usable patio space near the house but needed to tackle the problem of steep slopes.

My idea was to raise the paving into the area of the previous bed, but lower down, thus avoiding having to look at big retaining walls from the house. The existing walls were part-dismantled and reconstructed, using cleaned or purchased reclaimed bricks. The clients chose the material used in the new retaining rear wall; the blocks are interlocking but as they are not designed to go a high as this wall goes, there is a support structure behind and below them.

A central circle with squaring-off kit on the patio makes it a bit more interesting and the coping slabs merge the walls in with the patio. As the rear of the original wall was unattractive, it has been rendered. Some of the ideas we have used came from the clients and others came from us as we progressed with the work. There are three inset manhole covers close to each other on the lower area and both existing and new drainage had to be incorporated into the whole project.

All images on this site and all linked images are © Copyright Owen Clutton